I follow this area with particular interest, as my parents are both physicians, my wife is a physician, and many of our colleagues from training have married other physicians as well; generally, both partners continue to work and climb their career ladders together.

Dual career couples were also a prominent feature of my training. I learned immunology from the late Charlie Janeway, whose wife, Kim Bottomly, is also a distinguished immunologist, and currently President of Wellesley; one of my favorite preceptors in medical school was the late Nina Braunwald, a cardiac surgeon whose husband is the legendary academic cardiologist Eugene Braunwald; I learned about fetal ultrasonography from one of the field’s leading lights, Beryl Benacerraf, whose husband, Peter Libby, is chief of cardiology at the Brigham.

What’s different about business (assuming for the moment there is a difference – it’s always a bit perilous to base sweeping generalizations on a second-hand 140 character summary)? Why are power couples in business seemingly less frequent than in medicine?

The obvious answer is that it’s the money, stupid. Most of the “top physicians” I’m thinking of are leading academics – one of the ways a “top physician” is often defined. Consequently, while many may be distinguished, or even outright famous, and can certainly afford and enjoy a relatively comfortable life, few are filthy, flying-the-Gulfstream-to-Fisher-Island-for-the-long-weekend rich, in the way that perhaps a number of top business people are. Thus, choosing not to work, or to work significantly less, may not be an option the way it is if your spouse is pulling down seven or eight figures.

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I am a businessman who was engaged to a surgeon. That relationship failed (for many reasons, but it gave me certain insights into medical marriages).

Several reactions to your column in no particular order.

A successful businessman is as devoted to his career as any doctor. You cannot put in the hours demanded in running a company without feeling passion for what you do.

While the money that I earn is important to me, my reward comes from succeeding – ego, satisfaction in accomplishing something worthwhile, the knowledge that I have made a difference.

Bottom line, I believe that I get as many intangible rewards from my career as any doctor.

The geographic flexibility required in business is a big item. Academic doctors are typically people who join an institution with the expectation of staying there for a long time, even an entire career. Doctors in practice also plan for long stays in one region. Even if a medical career stalls, a doctor typically has the option of staying put – doctors married to each other can have satisfying careers in the same city.

Businessmen in their thirties (my age when I was contemplating this marriage) need to be able to move in order to seize an opportunity. I have had five major moves in the past 20 years; almost by definition, I needed to marry someone willing/able to relocate frequently.

You allude to one item that struck a cord: the apparent belief by doctors that they serve a higher calling. Two married people serving a higher calling are almost like a religious order – there is a certain harmony inherent in the relationship.

Businessmen have no such illusions.

Businessmen are mercenaries; we know that there is no corporate loyalty and that the odds to being canned are high (look at the turnover rates for CEO’s). That means that the source of our psychic satisfaction can disappear literally overnight. Statistically there are few Jack Welches.

That means that if you are a CEO and smart, you will have a personal Plan B. Early retirement (or better said, an unplanned retirement) is likely, so you need to have a spouse willing to embrace that development. Tough to be booted from the game when your spouse is still a major player.

We all get married with the desire to make it work. Marrying a supporter (rather than a power player) means that when Plan B comes into play, I will have a companion with me – that probably enhanced the durability of my marriage.

Terrific comments – the observations about the need in business to travel and to relocate frequently are right on target — such portability is viewed as a “must have,” not a “nice to have” among those most serious about climbing certain corporate ladders.

Perhaps related, a former colleague of mine from management consulting told me that as people are trying to figure out why the J&J CEO went to Alex Gorsky rather than Sheri McCoy, there’s speculation that it’s because he spent more time in a range of locations, while she’s always been based in NJ (my take on the J&J situation: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2012/02/22/can-we-really-expect-innovation-from-an-industry-stuck-on-white-male-former-sales-reps-perhaps/ ).

I like this piece – thanks for highlighting the differences. The biggest difference I think relates to the discipline in following a profession. You can’t just ‘inherit’ being a doctor; being married to a doctor doesn’t allow you to practice and yet this is precisely how many ‘relationship businesses’ arise. One person might be the driving force- the inspiration if you like for the business and the other person is heavily involved but may not have the vision or the fire-in-the-belly. The partnership is thereafter interdependent in a way that relationship partner doctors are not. In the case of the business situation- there is a single productive unit, the business. In the case of married doctors – there are two independent productive units- the two doctors. now consider multi-generational businesses and we have a whole new dynamic again!

While I know several business couples that aren’t “power couples,” a number of them (more than 20%) have one partner working full time while the other partner works “less than full time.”

Which is to say, I wonder if 80% of top business women’s partners aren’t “house husbands” or “trophy husbands” as much as they are “consultants” or “entrepreneurs.” I think the headline evokes an image of a bunch of rich guys playing tennis while their wives work. I think it’s more likely they’re working part time or are self-employed to give them time to take care of the kids, manage the couple’s assets and possibly also do a little “bidnizz” on the side.

I suspect you are correct, and certainly in most of the non-”power-couple” arrangements I’ve seen, the spouse in the “supportive” role tends to be very busy with a range of activities similar to those you describe. Also highlights more generally the challenges of getting said activities done when both spouses are actively pursuing demanding careers, and is a reminder of the almost unimaginable challenges faced by so many single parents struggling to balance career and family.

This story reminds me of discussions I’ve been peripherally involved with involving “women’s work,” GDP and how we measure productivity. I’m sort of getting the idea that the main focus of this article was that business power couples are different from other kinds of power couples (like physicians) and that you see way fewer of them (the business power couples.)

And while we’re starting to see more men take care of the home while women are in the “productive work force,” I think a really great follow up article would be about the ramifications of not counting home work towards GDP numbers.

Here’s a for-instance: A friend of mine was laid off from his job in 2009. After looking for several months and not finding anything, he wound up moving in with his parents and taking on the role of full-time caregiver for his grandfather. When we compile labor statistics, we count him as being “marginally attached to the workforce” and take him out of the “unemployed” bucket. He’s not paid directly for his labor, so it’s hard to count his labor toward the GDP (or most other productivity measures.)

However, had he found a job and his parents hired a full time (or even part time) professional care-giver, then both his labor and the labor of the paid care-giver would be counted towards GDP. I think the issue here is a) there may be more shades of grey of “employedness” and b) the degree to which labor affects measurement of productivity is “flexible” if not down-right elastic.

So I guess what I’m getting at is I would love to hear what the eminent economists of our day have to say about such issues? Are we shortchanging ourselves by not counting home labor? Is home labor not important because you don’t see the money moving? What about basic fairness? Is it fair to say that the person who provides a service in the general economy is more deserving of contributing to the national GDP than someone who does the same (or similar) task at home?

Anyway, thanks for letting me hijack this conversation thread for a topic that’s only marginally related to the article, but I think this article is just scratching the surface of debate that could easily touch on econometrics and gender equity in a world where many developed countries (US & Japan, for instance) are starting to see a lot of people enter retirement.

This is a great question. I’m a PhD student writing my thesis on this topic, and I think you’ve hit on some salient points.

I think an important part of the power couple disparity you observe is that medicine and business differ greatly in their time and geographic flexibility. After reaching certain career thresholds, doctors (especially medical academics) have a great deal of control over their own time, and doctors can find jobs in most locations. An ambitious businessperson climbing the ladder, as was mentioned above, is at the location and schedule mercy of his or her employer, and may have to work long, unpredictable hours or relocate frequently.

Thus, married doctors have two advantages in becoming power couples. The time and geographic flexibility of medicine not only make it easier for the “secondary” earner to stay in the labor force in a meaningful way but also allows the “primary” earner to coordinate with a spouse so that both can continue to pursue their careers.

Taking a step back, one might think that these occupational characteristics would also cause doctors and businesspeople intermarry at different rates. Even if an ambitious female MBA would like to marry someone who is equally passionate about business, she may choose not to because being a business “power couple” is so difficult. Doctors would face this concern to a lesser degree – even the medical resident match has been redesigned to accommodate married couples – and so might marry each other more.

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